There are many lifting and transportation devices, but devices to lift particularly large loads efficiently, which is the purpose of the present invention, are few. Commonly used are various types of jacks, which are not mobile, at least not over long distances, and cranes of various types, which may be mobile but often are not easily maneuverable close to the lifting site. Some means of transport in common use, such as trucks, airplanes, helicopters and railroad cars place severe limitations on the size and weight of the objects to be transported. Others, such as barges and ships, and railroad cars, are limited in their points of access so that intermediate means must be used to transport objects to and from them. None of the existing means mentioned has the capability, other than over short distances, of transporting objects directly, from pickup to set-down point in a straight line, or by the Great Circle route between distant points on the Earth""s surface All of them are expensive to operate, the cheapest commonly being waterborne, and are damaging in various degrees to the environment.
Often, large objects must be dismantled or broken up, and lifted and transported in sections that are manageable with existing transportation means, which adds greatly to costs. Again, certain objects, such as icebergs which could otherwise be used for desert irrigation, are both too large for existing lifting and transportation means and by their nature cannot be practicably cut into sections. This invention solves these problems.
Recently, interest has rekindled in aerostats, that is, airships and blimps, as means of lifting and transporting heavy objects. However, to contain the lighter-than-air gas providing the lift, a conventional aerostat requires a skin, supported by inner framework limiting the aerostat""s size. This in turn limits its displacement, roughly one cubic meter for one pound lift, to an amount too small for loads as heavy as, e.g., icebergs, large buildings, complete dry-docks or dredgers. This invention has no such limitation. In addition, interest in conventional airships waned before World War II after they were involved in a number of famous, lethal disasters. Conventional aerostats also have the disadvantage of needing expensive tethering facilities for periods when they are not in use, since they are vulnerable to high winds. Blimps may be partially collapsed when not in use but they have the same load-capacity limitations as airships.
It is to avoid in novel fashion the disadvantages of the existing means of lifting and transporting objects, particularly heavy and bulky objects, that the present invention of a platform-type airship is directed.
This invention is directed to the lifting and transport of objects, particularly heavy and bulky objects and loads which existing equipment is not capable of handling. However, the airship according to this invention may be manufactured in sizes to lift and transport economically objects well within the volume and weight range of such existing equipment.
The airship that is the preferred embodiment of this invention comprises two similarly-shaped, parallel, horizontal platforms axially in line, but spaced apart, and separated by rigid members or connected by cables, which enclose between the platforms a plurality of gasbags, all with provisions for filling them with, and partially emptying them of lighter-than air gas, such as hydrogen or helium. When filled with gas, the bags lift the combined assembly of themselves, the platforms, and operating accessories, i.e., the assembly that forms the airship, and whatever load is attached. When the gas is partially emptied from the bags, either to the atmosphere or to be compressed and stored, the combined assembly tends to be lowered. The platforms may of course be constructed of any convenient shape, the preferred shape being that of an equilateral triangle having its apexes truncated and beveled, since that shape accords well geometrically with the preferred geodesic structure of the platforms and the disposition of the gasbags.
The airship, after being lifted by the filling of the gas bags, is preferably propelled through the atmosphere by the combined action of an endless curtain arranged around the gas-bag-filled space between the platforms and driven around the space in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction and of separate individual rotatable propeller units. These propeller units are used to steer the airship and to provide an air-stream perpendicularly against the curtain, inducing the well-known Magnus Effect which moves the airship in a horizontal direction at right angles to the direction of the forced air-flow. The further influence of more or less random natural wind movements occurring spontaneously and relative to the airship by reason of its movement tend to modify the direction of the movement from that arising from the forced air-flow. Therefore, in this invention the intensity and direction of the forced air flow is adjusted to accommodate the natural wind flow by a mechanism preferably controlled by a computer so as to navigate the assembly in the direction desired, in a similar fashion to the directional adjustment known as xe2x80x9cwind-vectoringxe2x80x9d that enables a conventional airplane to remain on course in spite of constant changes of wind direction and speed.
The structures of the platforms of the airship preferably are of the two-dimensional geodesic type which is relatively light for its strength and can be repetitively constructed to extend to almost unlimited dimensions, thus enabling the platforms to enclose an almost unlimited number of gas bags, giving the invention an almost unlimited lifting capacity. The assembly can be constructed and stored on any flat surface of suitable size, including the surface of, for example, a lake or salt flats.